TONIC | NEWS
CLINT GUEST — 2014 AUSTRALIAN
LONGBOARD CHAMPION
INTERVIEW BY DEV LAHEY
YOU WON THE AUSTRALIAN TITLES IN THE
LOG DIVISION LAST YEAR AND HAVE COME
AWAY WITH THE WIN THIS YEAR IN THE
OPEN MEN’S LONGBOARD, HOW DO YOU
FEEL ABOUT THAT?
Initially I went down to defend a Logging title
and I wasn’t able to be at the state titles this
year which was unfortunate, but I got the two
wildcards down at Coffs Harbour and I made
the final in the Log which I was happy about.
But the Longboarding, that’s something that I
have watched Josh Constable, Grant Thomas
and guys like that do well at and that was more
what I wanted to win, but when you come up
against guys like Harley [Ingleby], who is the
World Champ, I didn’t necessarily think that
it was going to happen this year or this early
in my career, but it all fell into place and it was
pretty magical.
WHICH WIN DID YOU ENJOY MORE?
Your first one is always very special but I felt like
this one was up against such heavy opposition
with Harley and Jarred with Jarred winning the
Open last year and obviously Harley has won
three Aussie titles and a world championship,
so to win that was more satisfying.
DO YOU THINK THIS WIN WILL MAKE YOU
MORE FOCUSED FOR NEXT YEAR OR DO
YOU THINK IT WILL TAKE SOME OF THE
PRESSURE OFF?
It has opened my eyes to the potential. If I have
a good run and catch the right waves I can beat
those guys. I have got a wildcard to the World
Titles and am actually heading to China next
week. So I have the potential to win a World Title
next week. It is only the one off event so I will be
over there and purely because of this Australian
Title I have this opportunity to go over there. So
it has opened a few doors and I have to make
the most of these opportunities.
SO HAVE YOU GOT ANY OTHER EVENTS OR
TRIPS PLANNED IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
I will be going to the Noosa Festival of Surfing,
which is always a good week. I have got the
6 – SUMMER ISSUE
ISA World Games next year as well, which
I qualified for and I have plans to do the
European circuit with my duel passport.
WHAT SIZE BOARD DO YOU RIDE IN
COMPETITION AND FREE SURFING?
I ride anything; having lived down at Burleigh
for the past 12 years, I ride anything from a 4’11
which is a little twiny that I ride, up to a 10 foot
single fin log, so you know I surf anything that
suits the conditions. I have been having a lot of
fun with a little single fin, which is a 6’0 x 18 ½ x
2 ¼ that has been super fun and has these little
channels in the bottom. On the longboarding
side I have a 9’6 log 23 wide by 2 ¾. I enjoy
riding everything. I just pack the van full of
boards and go and surf.
SO WHEN YOU GO ON THESE TRIPS IS THERE
A SPECIAL PLACE YOU LIKE TO GO OR ARE
YOU A LOCAL BOY AT HEART?
Burleigh is my favourite wave and home break
but I enjoy going up to Noosa a lot, going down
to Ballina, down to Angourie, Crescent and
Coffs. I just pack the van full of boards and go
surf whatever waves are in front of me.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE GOOD
STYLE AND WHOSE DO YOU LIKE BEST?
Somebody who is smooth, but can pull off
manoeuvres that have a greater difficulty but
make it look easy. For me guys like Harrison
Roach and on the shortboarding side JohnJohn [Florence] are guys who make all the
hard things look easy and look relaxed. I grew
up with Harrison in Noosa - I lived there from
when I was six to when I was 12, so I was always
around Harry a lot as I was younger and have
watched him go forward in leaps and bounds.
He is just one of those guys with endless oldschool style. But it does not matter what he
rides, he just brings that to his surfing.
THANKS CLINT AND GOOD LUCK IN CHINA
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